Sport is an important component of university life, impacting on many of the ‘core agendas’ of universities, including student recruitment, student satisfaction, student retention, student and staff well-being and student engagement.

Sport is not peripheral but core to the ‘business’ in Universities. At Roehampton, for instance, the VC recalled his own experience on joining the institution as Vice Chancellor five years ago, when he met with the Student Union and asked what the two most important things he could do to improve their experience of university life. The answers were ‘better sport facilities’ and ‘more men’. The VC admitted that getting ‘more men’ had not been easy, with the proportion increasing from just 23% to 24%, but he felt he had delivered on the request for better facilities. Five years ago Roehampton had no sports facilities and no Director of Sport. He felt there had been a major transformation since those days, first by raising the whole profile of sport and appointing a Director of Sport, and secondly, by investing in new facilities.

Sport therefore, is often important to Universities and the experience of students at University.